Ben has started to show so much personality. He just turned 4 months old, time sure does fly. It’s so great how much the family pulls together when a new baby is born. Our older children can’t get enough of Ben. I’ve started doing a few signs with Ben like “eat”, “more”, “all done” and “milk”. It will be a while before he starts to sign back things to me, but I’m certain he’ll be understanding the signs very soon… who knows maybe he already understands.
We’ve just added a new section called Signing 4 Life. This section will include more advanced signs, signing sentences, lessons and activities you can use for young children, and more advanced lessons for older children and adults. It will take some time to add the material, but visit often to see new information updated regularly.
We had so much fun learning about street signs. We made cars out of boxes and then we made street signs with craft sticks and craft paper. The kids learned their colors and shapes and had fun taking turns driving around while the remaining kids were in charge of traffic control. The kids also got a paper to take with them in the car that had many other street signs that they might see around the city. They get to put a sticker on the sign when they see it while they’re driving in the car.
Annie my 5 year old was recording me, so sorry if it’s a little bumpy. And I’m not sure why it sounds like I have a lisp… I had to convert the file size so it wouldn’t take so long to load. I’ll try to add better video later, but for now… at least you’ll have something to work with.
This type of activity can also incorporate sign language. Here are the signs for: Green, Go, Yellow, Slow, Red, Stop, Car, Bus, and Motorcycle.
You can also play red light green using the signs.
I just had a new baby and my 2 year old has started to act up. I know he’s not getting quite as much attention as he used to. So I decided to find activities that he’s good at that can make him feel important in a short amount of time. When he was a baby I taught him American sign language. He learned over 200 signs. When he started to talk more and more, we just didn’t use the signs as much. But now, as a positive reinforcer, I’ve brought back the signs when we are watching a cartoon, reading a book, sitting down to eat, or learning about colors. I can tell he is already starting to respond, because he feels cool (probably because he’s doing something the baby can’t). I’ve also tried to involve him in teaching the new baby signs. He loves this! I can tell it makes him feel so important and it allows him to interact with the baby in a positive way. If my toddler starts to get rough with his new brother I distract him by asking him to teach the baby another sign. He’ll grab his brothers chubby little hands and try to make him do the sign.. it’s pretty darn cute.
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Sometimes when I talk to parents about using baby sign language with their children they are hesitant to “add another thing” to their busy schedule. The amazing thing about using American sign language with your child is that it’s incredibly easy.
When I teach my baby sign language class we start out by showing a few pictures and have the class play a little game of cherades. They can’t use any words or sounds, only gestures. Out of a stack of about 20 pictures the class is pleasantly surprised after the game. The reason: generally the students without knowing the American Sign Language (ASL) sign for the picture end up using the correct gesture for that sign.
American Sign Language is a visual language the comes naturally to many people, especially babies. Before your child can talk and without any encouragement from their parents, babies will almost always use gestures to communicate. Children will reach or point at objects they want, bang their hands on the table to get a reaction, and even shake their heads in objection to something, etc, etc…
For those parents that feel it would be too difficult to add “another thing” to the routine, l’ll let you in on a little secret. Using sign language with your child is easy and in the long run you will be thanking me for helping you avoid frustration and tantrums. Your child’s ability to use sign language will amaze you, it’s almost 2nd nature. And you’ll find yourself using the signs without even thinking twice about them after a few days.
I promise, you wont feel like you have to find the time to sign, you’ll be looking for opportunities to use them.
I just started using sign language with Ben my 10 week old. I know that it’s going to be a long time before he signs back to me, but speaking from experience I know that he will start to understand very soon. With my other children I started to sign to them early on. Some parents get disapointed our frustrated when their child doesn’t sign to them right away, but you have to realize that your infants motor skills aren’t up to speed. Most children can cognitively understand what you are saying long before they are physically able to respond back to you. They typically have a harder time physically forming words verbally than using signs.
My philosophy on how many signs are when do you add them is that it depends mainly on the parent. If you are certain that you can be consistant and use the sign language on a regular basis, then I think it’s fine to use as many signs as you want. I believe that the child will be able to understand what you are communicating, even if they can’t respond to you yet.
As a hearing parent we don’t with hold some of the words we verbally speak to our children just because they can’t speak to us yet, so why would we be hesitant to avoid additional signs just becasue our baby can’t sign back?
Deaf parents of hearing children don’t with hold any signs with their children in infancy, and what do you know, the children understand completely what their parents are saying. So in summary, I feel that if the parent is willing and able to maintain using the signs consistantly, then by all means add on!
Using signs to teach colors is very useful. With my daughter we introduced colors very early. Your child can typically identify colors long before they can speak. Just like when you’re signing, you should always mention the color of the object you are describing or using.When my little girl could already use words and we would play color games, if she ever forgot I would simply sign the color and she would be able to figure it out. Having a visual symbol along with a verbal symbol to represent something will often help with memory and organization.